Beard named Third-Team NAIA All-American

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For the first time since the NAIA National Championship winning season of 2020-21, the men's basketball program at Shawnee State has an NAIA All-American.

Fittingly, it's the last player remaining from that very team.

Tre Beard -- the all-time winningest player in program history with 103 career victories as a member of the Shawnee State roster and the only player in program history to be a part of NAIA National Tournament victories in two separate seasons (2020-21 and 2023-24) -- was named as a Third-Team NAIA All-American Monday, becoming the first Shawnee State player in four years to be honored and the ninth NAIA All-American in the history of the program as announced by NAIA National officials Monday morning.

Fear the Beard

The first player to achieve the honor since EJ Onu and James Jones obtained First-Team and Second-Team NAIA All-America honors, Beard -- the 2025 River States Conference Player of the Year -- achieved the honor after a career year that saw the grad student drop in 19.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor, 47.7 percent from three-point range and a school record 91.5 percent from the free throw line during the 2024-25 season.

Additionally, Beard finished the year with the sixth-highest single-season scoring average and sixth-highest single-season free throws made (129) in program history -- all while nabbing an assist-to-turnover ratio that was nearly 2-to-1 -- as Beard tallied 83 assists compared to turning the basketball over just 43 times.

For his career, Beard finished his time at Shawnee State with 1,229 career points and 241 career three-pointers -- marks that rank 10th and second in program history all-time -- as the elite talent continues to build on what will be a future Hall of Fame caliber resume at SSU.

Monday's honor makes Beard the third NAIA All-American off of that NAIA National Championship team, along with Onu and Jones.

Additional

As part of being named the 2025 River States Conference Player of the Year, a two-time all-conference recipient and having equally elite academic marks over the course of his time as a student-athlete at Shawnee State, Beard is part of a ballot that is under consideration for College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors. The official College Sports Communicators Academic All-America lists for men's basketball will be unveiled Tuesday, April 15 if Beard does make the list in that regard.